Trash gets new life at Re-Create art exhibit

Finn McDaniel's “Pigeon Man” creation, composed of a Styrofoam head from Creative Reuse and knitting needles, toothpicks, plastic forks, feathers and straws. “I just wanted to stick stuff into something,” said the fourth-grader from North Oakland Community Charter School.

A random grouping of items, perhaps, but they might have been landfill fodder if it weren’t for the creative minds and crafty hands of Oakland students who used them instead to make art.

The “Re-Create” art exhibit, which opened on November 16 in downtown Oakland, features an array of artwork from dioramas to sculptures to wall hangings—all fashioned using repurposed materials. All pieces were entered into the annual “Re-Create” art contest sponsored by the City of Oakland’s Public Works Agency and produced by the Museum of Children’s Art (MOCHA) in honor of America Recycles Day, which falls on November 15 each year.